Here it is — the second in what we will try to keep a regular series of podcasts. In this one, an interview with Joshua Stacher, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Kent State University and an expert on presidential succession in Egypt and Syria. Josh, a former contributor to this site, spent much of this decade learning the arcana of the National Democratic Party and tracking the rise of Gamal Mubarak as Egypt's most important public figure bar his father. At least that's what he was doing when he wasn't following the Muslim Brothers. Due to scheduling conflicts and my voice being damaged by a nasty cold, Ursula Lindsey interviewed Josh — who is convinced Gamal is the next president of Egypt — about how his prophecy might come true.

Issandr El Amrani is a Cairo-based writer and consultant. His reporting and commentary on the Middle East and North Africa has appeared in The Economist, London Review of Books, Financial Times, The National, The Guardian, Time and other publications. He also publishes one of the longest-running blog in the region, www.arabist.net.